News You Can Eat

Even the closures can't keep this Dallas restaurant news roundup down

Things are supposed to be quiet during July, but the bustling, sizzling, buzzing restaurant scene in Dallas never takes a break. There are closings of all kinds, some temporary, some looming, some for good. And we have another collection of new menus for summer, because that's where we are right now, in the middle of summer.

Here's the latest round of Dallas restaurant news:

Elbow Room, the dive bar near Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, may be shut down. Texas A&M wants to build a dental school at that address. But it's a complicated situation because Elbow Room owners Joe and Rosalie Nagy do not own the building. A&M made an offer to landlord Edward Sigmond, but he seems to be holding out for a better offer. A statement from A&M said that their offer was rejected, so they may simply use eminent domain.

Rockfish Seafood Grill at Mockingbird Station has closed. A manager said the restaurant couldn't come to terms on a new lease, i.e., the landlord raised the rent. They opened there in 2001. The closest location is at 11661 Preston Rd.

Old Warsaw has moved from its former location, 2610 Maple Ave., to two doors down at 2512 Maple Ave. Owner Al Heidari sold his former building to developers who are building a high-rise. The new location is the former Montaigne Club, which Heidari also owned. It boasts a courtyard and patio, and they brought along some of their old fixtures, including etched-glass windows and 12-foot doors.

Devious Desserts is an odd side business selling ice cream and waffle bowls, operating out of Deep Ellum bar Wits End. Owner Meriel Young, a former pastry chef at Nobu Dallas and Joy Macarons, is serving items such as the Mex-Mex bowl, with cotija-corn ice cream topped with dulce de leche and crushed tortilla chips, Wednesday through Saturday nights.

Bridge Bistro, the Creole restaurant in the Dallas Design District, will shut down for the month of August. Owner Kay Agnew plans to add a patio, update the interior, and refresh the menu.

Yolk is opening another branch in Preston Center, taking over the old LYFE Kitchen space and adding a patio. This is the third branch after One Arts Plaza and Fort Worth, and will open in fall 2016.

Construction on Haymaker, the Austin gastropub opening a branch at 1520 Greenville Ave., is finally moving along. It was supposed to open in spring 2016, but owners Keith Sandel, Brian Pacheco, and Troy Moore encountered bumps in the construction process. This is the building that was once a Flying Saucer and before that, Flip's.

CiboDivino Marketplace has unveiled a new bubbly, Christina Puleo Prosecco, named for co-owner Christina Puleo, wife of chef Daniele Puleo. Made in Veneto, Italy, the prosecco is a crisp, pungent, off-dry sparkling wine with refreshing minerality and notes of citrus and green apple. This is not their first wine: There is also a pinot grigio and a Chianti. In addition to their house labels, CiboDivino has more than 350 wines for sale, ranging from $8 to $200, with varietals from boutique vineyards of Italy and California.

Modern Market has new summer items on its menu, including a blueberry-pesto sandwich with mozzarella and arugula on toasted ciabatta; and a mint salad with broccoli, arugula, pickled onion, torn mint, and almonds. A sausage pesto pizza has Polidori spicy Italian sausage with pesto crème fraîche. Toscano salad has proscuitto, grape tomato, cucumber, and cannellini bean in a garlic-rosemary vinaigrette, served with an herb flatbread slice. There are ginger-maple roasted veggies with carrots, beets, and sweet potatoes; and a new dessert pizza with brown-sugar caramel, strawberry, blueberry, whole-wheat crumble, and whipped Greek yogurt.

Ivy Kitchen has a new revamped summer menu from chef Jason Hoffman. New dishes include penne pasta with roasted vegetables, garlic olive oil sauce, pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese; short ribs with mustard BBQ sauce; and Windy Meadows roasted chicken with garlic mashed potatoes. The mojito infusion is a new cocktail made with orange-infused rum, peach liqueur, lime, pineapple juice, and fresh mint.

The Landmark Restaurant at the Warwick Melrose Dallas has a new summer menu from chef Patrick McElroy. Dishes include heirloom tomato crostini with avocado Boursin, and refreshing new cocktails with summer fruits such as grapefruit, blackberries, and cranberries.

The Second Floor by Scott Gottlich has a new summer menu with dishes such as T-bones with chermoula, carrot, and minted apricot Israeli couscous; and spaghetti with tomato pesto, burrata, and confit tomato micro basil.

Trio New American Cuisine in Colleyville has a new summer menu from chef Jason Harper. Menu items include pork belly nuoc cham with watermelon, peanuts, mint, and cold chili-lime noodles; venison stuffed quail with smoked creamed corn, braised collards, apple slaw, and maple-bourbon barbecue jus; and Texas peach goat cheese salad with macadamia nuts and hydro greens in a blackberry-poppy seed dressing.

Stampede 66 has hired Kevin Watson as a new sous chef. Watson attended El Centro Community College and has worked at the Belo Mansion, Wolfgang Puck Catering, Kent Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen, Abacus, Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck, and Neighborhood Services. He also worked for three years at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation in Florida.

Blueberry pesto sandwich is on the new summer menu at Modern Market.

Photo courtesy of Modern Market

Blueberry pesto sandwich is on the new summer menu at Modern Market.

chefs closings openings news-you-can-eat

Spring Arrival

West Dallas gets new Spanish-Peruvian restaurant with big-name chef

Photo courtesy of Ulloa's

Paella will be on the menu.

A new restaurant with a high-profile culinary director will bring Spanish and Peruvian flavors to West Dallas: Called Ulloa’s, it is coming to 727 Fort Worth Ave., with a projected opening in March 2027.

The concept is from philanthropists Susan and Woodrow Gandy, who were previously investors in the historic Belmont Hotel just around the corner. They've teamed up with Dallas celebrity chef Kent Rathbun as culinary director, along with Christopher Tunnell as general manager to lead the front of the house.

Rathbun is a name Dallas diners know well, with a resume that includes The Mansion on Turtle Creek, the Landmark Restaurant at the historic Melrose Hotel, Seventeen Seventeen at the Dallas Museum of Art, Abacus, Jasper's, Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen, and more. He's won numerous awards and made multiple appearances on Food Network. He was most recently behind the launch of On The Rocks, an Italian bistro in Burleson.

Chef Kent Rathbun will be the culinary director of Ulloa's. Photo courtesy of Kent Rathbun

Tunnell’s background spans both culinary direction and front-of-house operations. He worked at Los Angeles hot spots Ketchup, Geisha House, and Les Deux, as well as the Mandalay Bay and The Mirage in Las Vegas, before moving to Dallas to open The Mexican, the upscale restaurant in the Design District.

“I am truly excited to partner with Chef Kent Rathbun, whose reputation is amazing — not only in the DFW Metroplex, but in the culinary world,” Tunnell says. “He has been with this project since the beginning, helping develop it; this will be a very chef-driven, culinary-forward restaurant.”

The team's vision for Ulloa’s is both culinary and urban, with hopes of anchoring the corridor and attracting other businesses to Fort Worth Avenue — a stretch connecting downtown Dallas with Oak Cliff that remains somewhat underdeveloped despite its panoramic skyline views.

The restaurant is named for Spanish explorer, astronomer, and scientist Antonio de Ulloa, who spent extensive time in the Mexican peninsula before becoming Louisiana’s first governor. During his travels, Ulloa documented a fogbow — a circular rainbow formed when sunlight meets mist that causes silhouettes standing between the sun and fog to appear ringed in light, a phenomenon known today as “Ulloa’s Rings.”

That vibrant phenomenon inspired both the restaurant's identity and logo. The concept promises "bold, worldly flavors in a welcoming neighborhood setting inspired by exploration and discovery,” the owners say.

Ulloa's Rendering of Ulloa's.Rendering courtesy of Ulloa's

While the menu remains in development, Tunnell describes the culinary direction as “Spanish soul with a Peruvian heart.” The kitchen will merge the coastal flavors of both traditions — ranging from paellas and ceviches to crafted cocktails and signature adaptations by Rathbun.

The 200-seat, two-story space will feature a downstairs dining room, a large bar, and an outdoor patio. Upstairs, plans call for a secondary bar, a private dining room, a patio, and an expansive balcony patio, offering views of the city's skyline and of the Margaret Hunt Hill and Margaret McDermott bridges.

While the upstairs space will be available for private events, the owners intend for it to operate primarily as an organic extension of the main restaurant. The buildout will include a guest elevator along with ample parking, including both self-parking and valet options.

The team says the restaurant will have have an aesthetic that's “warm, theatrical, generous, elegant but alive, with the energy of a great Spanish tapas bar and the soul of Peruvian hospitality.”

Ulloa’s plans to launch with dinner service first, followed by lunch and weekend brunch.

restaurants bars peruvian flavors west dallas oak cliff kent rathbun